Funeral-car.



1. s. MARVIN.

FUN-BRAL GAR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27,1910.

'1 ,O72,864 Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Ammml Jlnurulnr I. S. MARVIN.

\ FUNERAL GAR;

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 27,1910.

Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

4 SHEETS'SHEBT 2.

Blmrmlnr lllqll'lllI/A 0% s WW Attnmmu I. S. MARVIN. FUNERAL CAR.

APPLICATION rILnn JULY 27,1910.

Patented Sept. 9, 1913.

Allumrun I. S. MARVIN;

FUNERAL GAB.

APPLICATION FILED JULY27, 1910.

Patented Sept. 9, 1913:

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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W an m I v T; olfllni L L o i o .i i K \\\N 0 NR 0 0 o R 0/ m u. n 3

mitumarn inn scnmn'r MARVIN, OF DETROIT, MIeHIeAN.

FUNERAL-CAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patel'lted Sept. 9, 1913.

Application filed July 27, 1910. serial m. 574,061.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IDA SCHMIDT MAR- VIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit,- county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented acertain newand useful Improvement in Funeral-Cars, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to funeral cars, and whiledesigned to be applied to motor cars or self-propelling or self-operating cars, yet may be used with trolley cars running on tracks as will be obvious from the following description. I

It consists in the various arrangements and combinations hereinafter pointed out and claimed.

' hand side of Fig.

In the drawings :Figure 1, is a perspective elevation of the car containing my improvements and showing'the compartment in which it is intended to carry the casket open for illustrative purposes. Fi 2, is a cross sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1. This illustrates a side opening on the lefthand side of the car looking forward. Fig. 3, is also a general cross sectional view on the line 22 of Fig; 1, but modified by showing an opening upon the right-hand side of the car looking forward. The re mainingfigures are drawn with reference to the sideopening of thecar upon its lefthand side loo ing forward or on the right- 2, it being obvious that the modeof operation is not changed by changing sides. Fig. 4, is a plan view of the casket platform and compartment with the casket turning at right angles for the purpose of removlng it. Fig. 5, illustrates the mechanism for turning the casketand showing the casket in dotted lines as turned at right angles to the car. Fig. 6, illustrates the same mechanism, but also illustrates the movable platform upon which the turntable and casket rests, and being a partial longitudinal section of the car rawn on the line 3.3, Fig. 4. Fig. 7, illustrates means for raising the casket when in position, and carried by the platform upon which it rests, which platform in turn 'is mounte 'upon the rotatable turntable,

which again in turn is mounted upon the upon this in a fixed said moving platform illustrated in Fig. 6.

Flg. 8, is a plan view-of the mechanism illustrated in Fi it, with the casket and platform upon w ich it rests omitted.

Similar letters refer to similar arts.

In the drawings, A, represents t e framewo-rkand body of the car, which, as already stated, may be of any convenient size and driven by any form of power, whether electric, gasolene engine or by trolle As shown it is driven by a self-containe motor which enables the car to run upon ordinary streets without tracks. The car proper is divided into three compartments. B, is the motormans compartment; 0, the passenger compartment, which may be entered from the rear, as suggested in the drawings, or may be from the side if desired; D, is the compartment for the casket and my invention resides in the arrangement and combination of mechanism contained in this compartment. The compartments C and D, are arrange to communicate by means of ordinary doors, (which may be either sliding or swinging), as shownat d, d. w

E, is a casket illustrated in the ordinary position in the car it would ordinarily occupy while in transit. upon a compound base which is partially illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and more fully illustrated in detail in Figs. 5 and 6.

' G, represents the floor proper of the car; position is a base H,

iich extends longitudinally of the car and substantially of the length of the casket, as shown in Fig. 6 and has at each end a cross track H carrying friction rollers It, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, and also illustrated on a smaller scale in Figs. 2 and 3. platform or base H slightly shorter than thebase H, its ends resting upon the rollers h, k.- Thissnb-base H carries a circular flanged track f somewhat smaller than another circular track f, inverted over it, the edges of the flanged iron of the latter encircling the flange of the track F; a fairly close fit is intended to be made at this point between these two tracks so as to prevent lateral or side motion. 'A table or platform F, upon which the casket directly rests is rigidly fastene to and supported by the circular track f, as illustrated. By this construction the platform F can be turned at rig t angles or at any other angle desired to the sub-platform H. A brake block J,

Upon this track rests another' This casket rests shown in Fig. 6, with means for pressing it up against the track' f is provided so as to enable the platform F, carrying the casket to be fixed at any position whether longitudinal of the car or at right angles thereto as shown in Fig. 4, and also preventing vibration. Of course on releasing the brake, which may be done with screwhandle j, the casket can readily be turned. If desired friction rollers or a groove with balls may be interposed between the two circular tracks and thus lessen the friction.

In Figs. 7 and 8, I have shown means for raising the platform F,as a modification of thestructure shown in Figs. 5 and 6, which consists in the insertion of another platform N, below the floor H between this platform N and the platform F is interposed a pair of lazy-tongs arrangements, as illustrated in Fig. 7 of the familiar type thereof. This consists of two right and left screws S, S one at each end working in nuts adjacent to the central joints of a threebar lazy tongs. It is obvious that by actuating the winch the screws may be rotated and thus the nuts S S in which they actuate can be either drawn together or separated. If drawn together they force upward at each end the platform H, and its load. A reverse motion of the winch drops the lazy-tongs down until substantially no elevation exists more than the thickness of th parts necessary to inclose the lazy-tongs. It is obvious that curtains may be placed upon this lazy-tongs arrangement and which, when the casket is dropped, are folded up and out of the way and yet when raised would inclose the mechanism so that it would not be observed; for the sake of clearness these curtains are omitted.

In order to separate the casket space fro-m that compartment of the car on either side thereof, I place two drop curtains or roller shades K, K, which may be raised or lowered by means of the rollers K, K but as these s ades or curtains have nothing in themselves that is novelthey do not constitute any part of my invention.

The platform H (Fig. 7 and its tracks or the platform H and tracks I-I 6) carry friction rollers engaging in appropriate shaped -angle irons. joinsand is continued by a movable side of the car H and carries tracks registering with tracks H When in position to receive and transfer the casket, which position is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, its tracks; form a continuation of the track H upon which the platform H carrying turntable F and the casket,.may be moved from its position upon the platform H, and out to the extremity of the platform H. In order to facilitate removal the casket may be turned at right angles to the car where it would assume the position shown in Fig. 4, when Either platform the platform H upon which it rests is moved outwardly for the purpose of taking the casket from the car. It is obvious that a reversal of these steps would enable the casket to be placed in the car; when so placed the platform H may be elevated and form the lower part of the sidewall of the car, which may be made to correspond substantially with the paneling in the car elsewhere. In each side of the opening is formed a groove L, in Figs. 2 and 3; a not shown, is in each There are also projecting1 at L extending from t e platform and engaging these grooves, the grooves being of the proper height and the ranged in the platform H in the proper relation. It is obvious thatby raising the outer edge of the platform the pins L slide in the guiding grooves L, in the posts. The

corresponding groove, of the opposite posts. pins illustrated one of which is shown' pins being arplatform H can be elevated perpendicularly and retained by appropriate bolts or latched in that position forming the side of the car. Corresponding movable side walls L drop from the roof in a corresponding manner obtained by a similar construction, except that pins at either inner end of L, at L engage in grooves L in the frame of the roof. By sliding the inner ends outwardly with the lower ends resting upon proper bearings in the door-jambs, these upward partitions L may be dropped tomeet the-upward edge of the platform H when placed in a vertical position, and in this manner the entire side of the car may be inclosed. It is obvious that the sliding pieces thus described may be made partly of glass or they may be paneled in wood and be perfectly opaque if desired.

For convenience i handling the casket I have provided a folding step M, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, upon the right and left-hand side of those figures respectively, and as there is nothing new in folding steps of this character it is unnecessary to describe them. It is obvious, however, that when the steps are folded, and the platforms H, are raised to form the side of the car, as hereinbefore described, that the width of the body of the car is reduced to its mini mum degree'which need not exceed substantially the length of the axles of the running gear upon which the car travels.

The operation of this device is obvious from the foregoing description and it is not deemed necessary to operation.

Having thus described my invention what I desire to claim is:

1. In a funeralcar, horizontally fixed platform, said. platform being substantially narrower than the width of said car, ways fixed thereto at either end thereof at right angles to the axis of said further describe such the combination of a v platform, a second platform adapted to engage said first named platform at its side and having thereon ways to correspond with and continue the ways on said fixed platform, means whereby said second platform may be elevated from a horizontal to a vertical position and form a part of the side of the car when in such vertical position, and adapted to return said second platform to a horizontal position whereby the ways register with the ways upon the fixed platform, and the lower edge of said second platform is brought into the interior of the car, the upper edge thereof is extended witnout the car, the dropping-of said platform to this position simultaneously forming an opening in the side of stantially. as described.

2. In a funeral car, the combination of a horizontally fixed rectangular platform, the longer axis corresponding with the axis of the car, ways fixed thereto at either end thereof at right angles to the axis of said platform, a second platform adapted to engage said first named platform at its side and having thereon ways to correspond and continue with the ways on said fixed platform, said second platform being adapted to be raised and form a part of the side of the car when in a vertical position and when lowered in a horizontal position to afford ways continued to the outer wall of said car and simultaneously forming an opening in the side of said car, a traveling platform having ways on its under side adapted to engage the ways hereinbefore described whereby said last named platform and its load may be transferred from the first named platform to the second and out through the side of the car, a turntable carried by said third platform, and a fourth platform adapted to fit and turn upon said turntable, and means for elevating and lowering the first named platform whereby said platform may be raised above the level of the floor and lowered to said level, substan tially as described.

the car, suba casket, said compartment being readily accessible from the outside of the car,-and

the bottom of said compartment being pro-.

vided with parallel ways, a movable platform also provided with parallel ways adapted to register with the aforesaid parallel ways when said movable platform is in a horizontal position, said movable platform being adapted for elevation into a vertical position to constitute a part of the outside walls of the car, and a casket carrier provided with means adapted to engage said parallel ways and adapted to travel thereon, whereby said casket when positioned on said carrier may be removed from within the car and out through the sides thereof when said side walls are dropped to a horizontal position and the ways thereon are in register with the ways on the bottom of said casket compartment.

4. In a funeral car, the combination comprising a compartment adapted to receive a casket, said casket being readily accessible from outside of the car, a passenger compartment adjacent said casket compartment, partition means for separating said passenger compartment from said casket compartment, whereby observation of said casket when in said casket compartment from the passenger compartment may be prevented, movable closure means in the wall of said casket compartment for admitting said casket therethrough when in an open position and adapted when closed to form a part of the side walls of the car, and means independent of said closure means for permitting of independent access to said passenger compartment.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

IDA SCHMIDT MARVIN.

Witnesses:

R. A. PARKER, N. V. BnLLEs. 

